It's all about reading
by Trekiael
Summary: For the ClC Kink meme. Checking out the library of his new town? Alright. Turning into a stalker because of the guy working there? ...definitely not alright.


It was two weeks before the end of summer vacation and the sun was warm, Too warm actually here in Twilight Town. Cloud wasn't used to it. He had just moved there, leaving their cold Macalania hometown. Cloud had wanted to apply for Twilight Town's college for years, wishing to assist the best engineering teacher's class, Cid Highwind. Coincidentally, meanwhile, their mother had found a boyfriend here, in Twilight Town. So she waited for Cloud to finish high school and the twins to finish middle school to move here.

Cloud parked his motorbike and took off his helmet.

None of them had intense reading as a hobby. Cloud lacked the imagination, Roxas the patience and Sora the attention span. But the twins liked to read manga. In their old hometown, they had borrowed all the manga the public library had as their disposal and had been a little frustrated by the very little among of them. But Twilight Town's public library had the reputation of being well-furnished of everything readable.

Looking up at the tall, ancient building then, Cloud had no problem believing that.

So, as he left to test the new brakes on his motorbike, their mom had asked Cloud to take a peek at the manga collection and see if it was worth taking a card there. Not that Cloud knew a lot about manga himself, just that while the twins both enjoyed what was commonly called "shônen", action manga, Roxas liked the dark realistic type and Sora the fun fantasy type the most. Well, Cloud would just look if the shônen section was well-furnished or not.

There he was, standing in front of the building, ready to enter. He climbed the large stairs and paused in front of what seemed to be the only modern item of the library, the huge automatic glass door. It slid open for him, and he stepped inside.

The building was truly impressive. There were two floors, the second one completely open in a mezzanine fashion, stairs on both sides of the first one leading to it. Right in the middle of the first floor was a large wooden desk. All the walls of the building were covered by shelves that seemed to continue endlessly in the back. Cloud could make out wooden floor partially covered by carpet upstairs, but the first floor was made of marble. And so, in the eery silence, almost religious, of the building, Cloud's heavy boots made a resonating sound as he stepped deeper inside.

The seemed to be no one inside, and Cloud was a little lost. He had no idea where to look and just turned his head left and right, hoping a clue would come. When none came, not being the one to wait passively for things to happen, he picked a random direction, on the left side of the desk, further back, in a more dimly lit part. There was actually a wall as large as the desk behind it, so no one would have been able to guess how big the building actually was. Cloud was only slightly surprised, though, to see the first floor divided into different rooms, each carrying the name of a different genre. In the corridor separating all the rooms (two on each side, two in the back) stood a large comfy-looking, read leather couch and a coffee table.

When Cloud saw that none of the name-tags above each door indicated that the manga section was over there, he turned on his heels, resolute to try the second floor.

And almost bumped into someone. Taking a step back, he quietly apologized.

"May I help you?"

The deep, smooth voice that left no room for argument had Cloud looking up in the face of his interlocutor. And promptly gap.

The other youth was a bit taller than Cloud, a couple inches probably, and board. Long chocolate brown hair, icy blue eyes, a painful-looking scar across the bridge of a straight nose, lips that were neither too full or too thin, both of the exact same size, set in a straight line, a strong jaw...He was also wearing leather, skin-tight leather, and lots of belts. Very far from you average library-rat, that was for sure.

Cloud looked back up at the guy's face and swallowed. Now, it's important to say that Cloud was _not___the type to gape at stranger's faces. Or stare. Or even look. Actually, he was not the type to look at people whatsoever. He simply was not interested. His best friend Zack had often told him he must have a problem if Tifa's huge boobs did nothing to him. And if he was gay, he should have fallen in love with Zack himself, so said the condescending bastard. But Cloud simply didn't care enough to look.

But now that he was forced to, he was pretty much obvious that he was gay. Or maybe the new town had woken up the hormones that had been sleeping for so very long. Anyway, he was undoubtedly attracted to this guy. Of course, not being used to the feeling, he took him a few seconds to make out the cause of the sudden tightening in his stomach, the sudden dry throat, he heat spreading through his whole body and especially in his lower belly, and the way his heart was beating way too fast for a healthy, generally calm teenager.

As the guy started to frown a little, Cloud tore his gaze away, feeling warmth spreading up his neck, and in that usual quiet and calm way of his, albeit a little shaky this time, he finally answer:

"I'm looking for the manga section."

The guy (a name would be much welcome. Cloud was sure he had a very nice name, not a stupid one like his own.) nodded once and turned on his heels, uncrossing his arms as he started walking in the opposite direction silently. Not much of a talker then. It was perfectly fine by Cloud, though for once, he wanted to actually know more about someone. At least his name. But for now, he'd just have to go with admiring that muscular ass clad in tight leather move right in front of his eyes. Or not exactly, but no one would check.

The guy abruptly stopped and Cloud almost bumped into him. Tearing his eyes from the stranger's ass with a slight embarrassed blush, he looked into icy blue-gray eyes. Damn that guy's look was piercing. After a moment that seemed too short for Cloud but longer than expected, the guy looked forward and up, and raised a hand to point upstairs. His fingers were long, and his hand seemed powerful, not large and thick, but muscular, and Cloud had the strange and sudden urge to feel it clench around a part of his body. Any part. Ignoring the sudden rush of heat, he looked up as well.

"See the shelves over there with all the kids reading? That's the manga section."

From the door, Cloud wouldn't have been able to make out the kids all sitting on couches or on the floor quietly reading, immersed into their world.

"Thanks you, …?"

"You can call me Leon"

Leon. A nice name, as expected. Manly, blunt, short and smooth. Very befitting.

"Leon. Thanks."

Nodding, Leon turned on his heels and walked back to the desk. Cloud followed him with his eyes until it became too obvious he was staring, and shaking his head slightly, resolutely walked upstairs, checking the section.

* * *

The next day, Cloud came back with the twins that were cheerfully blabbering about one manga or another, himself trying his best to ignore them. They had come by foot, the town small enough to do so, though he would have to take the tramway to go to University. Upon entering the building, the twins abruptly quieted down. Cloud looked back at them and felt his lips twitch in amusement. For twins, Roxas and Sora were really very different, but sometimes, they did stuff that reminded everyone exactly how identical their DNA was. Like then. Head tilted slightly back to take in everything, jaw slacked and eyes rounded, they took in the building.

"Whoa!"

They had talked at the same time, and it was synchronically that they turned to their older brother with expectant looks and bright eyes. Cloud simply jerked his head in the direction of the shelves upstairs and before he could say anything, they were rushing up the stairs with twin cries of joy. They could be so childish, Sora more so than Roxas, though.

"Brothers?"

Cloud almost jumped at the sound of the deep voice behind him, heart jumping in his throat. Damn, how could a voice affect him so much? Turning to look at Leon, who was carrying a small pile of books, he nodded once.

"Y-yeah. They're the manga freaks."

He hadn't stuttered. His voice had simply gotten momentarily stuck in his throat for not having used it for a while. That was it. Nothing more. Damn.

Leon nodded back and kept on walking to his desk, starting to talk, inviting Cloud to follow him by doing so.

"What about you?"

"...Me? No, no manga."

Leon stepped behind the desk and divided the pile of books in two.

"What do you like then?"

"I don't really...engineering."

Leon looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Cloud felt stupid. He was about to say he didn't really like to read, as was the truth, but at the last moment, had found an excuse to come back here, and had sprout the first thing that came to mind. He wasn't one to talk before thinking. That guy was making him too nervous. It was embarrassing, unnerving and frustrating. For the first time in his life he was the one running after someone, and he acted like a complete idiot. He could hear Zack bent down in laughter in the back of his mind. The great cool-faced Cloud acting like a teenage girl. Humiliating.

Leon stared at him for a while and went back to work with a nod.

"Studying it at University?"

Cloud nodded back before realizing Leon couldn't see him, bent over his books as he was, and voiced his confirmation. Leon then looked back up at him with a small, guarded but nice smile. Cloud's heart skipped yet another beat.

"Me too."

At Cloud's surprised then confused look, he explained:

"Me dad owns the library. I'm taking care of it during the summer while he's on vacation."

Stepping around the desk once again, Leon walked in the direction of the other stairs, jerking his head to invite Cloud to follow him once more. They walked upstairs, Cloud taking great pleasure at having Leon ass more at eye level than the day prior. Leon then stepped in a section and waved his hand in front of the shelves.

"Engineering section. I recommend you ...this one...this one and ...this one. This one too."

After grabbing a few books, he handed them to Cloud. They all looked interesting and Cloud felt grateful. Not that he needed anymore positive feelings toward Leon than those he already had. He nodded in thanks and Leon nodded back. Cloud then opened his mouth to say something, anything, to keep Leon there with him but twin screams of his name were heard downstairs and he snapped his mouth closed. Looking down, he witnessed his little brothers grinning up at him, carrying piles of manga. Sighing softly, he put the books back in place quickly, or started to until Leon silently stopped him, and walked back downstairs.

"This is awesome! They have everything!"

"Yeah! It totally rocks like whoa!"

If he had been a girl, Cloud would have probably bitch after his little brothers for interrupting his discussion with Mister Hot Guy of the Century. As it was, he simply looked at them happily immersed in their world of geekitude and wished them to fall in love with hot guys they would never have the guts to confess too. Older, taller (not that it was hard when it came to the shorties), manlier (this neither) and sexier (he would not even try to consider the question whether or not his baby brothers could be considerate sexy) ones, preferably.

Leon joined them shortly after and walked behind the desk, waiting expectantly for them. Upon looking at him they blinked and stared a little. So it wasn't only Cloud. Even his little brothers thought the guy was hot. Unless it was the scar that affected them. They got over it quickly though (much faster than Cloud) and dropped their piles of book over the desk with identical grins. Leon sat on his chair, reached for blank cards and started typing on his computer.

After a few minutes of exchange for needed information that made Cloud feel a little stupidly giddy as now Leon possessed all the information on Cloud himself, albeit indirectly, the twins carefully pocketed their new cards and grinned at Leon.

"Thank you Sir!"

"Squall."

All three of them blinked. The twins congratulated him on his cool-sounding name, comparing it to Cloud's, while himself was confused. Leon, or Squall, had obviously lied at some point. He felt a little bit betrayed, but too confused to realize the world was moving again, he barely had the time to lock eye with Leon/Squall briefly before he was dragged away by his exited brothers.

* * *

Busy with University paperwork and helping to organize the new house, Cloud didn't go to the library for two days. During that time, even if he was busy, all he could think about was Leon. Sometimes he would be so lost in thoughts that his brothers and his mom had had to call his name a few times on some occasion. It was madness. He barely knew the guy and he was so affected. So he decided that if he had to be obsessed with someone, at least he should try to make it legitimate by learning more about him.

He entered the library this afternoon with the firm intention of doing just that. But as his eyes fell on the subject of his obsession, his heart skipped a beat and his throat went dry. There was no way he would be able to talk to him. And then he remembered something that had bothered him those last two days : His real name. With a frown, he stalked to the desk and looked down at the guy who was currently reading a book. It was a thick leather book and Cloud made sure to remember the title "La Philosophie dans le Boudoir", by Marquis de Sade. Foreign? Sure enough, a big dictionary was laying open next to Leon on the desk. Cloud had just the time to make all of this out before Leon raised his head to look at him.

"Hello Cloud."

He had seemed a little startled and Cloud felt strangely embarrassed.

"Hello Leon. ...or is this Squall?"

His tone had been just the slightest bit accusing and there was no way to miss the guilty look that flashed quickly and Leon's eyes. The book was closed and put on the desk as a hand slid in brown hair.

"Actually... my name is Squall Leonheart. But people generally think that Squall is a stupid name. Or just a nickname. So they call me Leon. Except my friend Yuffie. Your brothers... well, I thought they had similar traits to her, and they like manga, so they might find it fun. Turn out I was right."

It was obvious Squall was not used to explain the reasons of his actions. Or simply not used to do things on a whim. Probably both. That was rather endearing. Now that he thought about it, Squall was really quite an uncommon name. But it was fitting. And there was a nice ring to it.

"...my name is _Cloud_"

His tone was so deadpanned that Leon's lips quirked a brief, involuntary smile.

"I know that now."

There was something in the intense way Squall was looking at him that made Cloud blush a little. He hesitated a moment before asking:

"So...can I call you Squall, then?"

Squall nodded and Cloud nodded back. There were so many things Cloud wanted to ask at that moment but he didn't know how, and Squall wasn't saying anything anymore either. So they just stared at each other for a moment in an awkward silence before Cloud cleared his throat and mumbled something about going to read.

He walked up the stairs and grabbed one of the book Squall suggested the day prior before sitting on the comfortable leather chair in between the two aisles. He had a perfect view on Squall from up there and spent the better part of the afternoon pretending to read while actually staring at Squall's concentrated face as he kept on reading his book, occasionally looking a word up in the dictionary.

* * *

For the following week, it became his ritual. Cloud would come to the library, quietly greet Squall, exchange a few words with him, discovering a few more details about him, like how his mother was from Radiant Garden and how his parents always went to spend one month in summer over there together, giving some small pieces of information about himself in return, then he would sit and pretend to read while staring at the object of his growing affection.

They had had internet installed in their new house at one point and Cloud had looked up the Marquis de Sade on a sudden whim. He had been slightly astonished at what he found and had wondered how much that said about Squall. Currently, said guy was reading another foreign book, that Cloud hadn't been able to make out. Once, Cloud had seen a group of girl asking if there was the overly famous "Twilight" book and had to hold back a laugh at the very slight expression of disdain on Squall's face as he answered.

There were only two days left before the beginning of college and Cloud was a little nervous at loosing his favorite, albeit completely useless and embarrassing pastime. He had made sure to do everything he needed to do the prior evening and in the morning to be able to stay for as long as he could that afternoon, fully intending to stare at Squall until his eyes burnt. It was now the end of the day and the library was going to close soon. And Squall wasn't here. He had left a little more than an hour ago to put some books in order on the other side of the top floor, then left for its depth, far from Cloud's side. So Cloud, disappointed, had started to actually read the book on his lap. Or look at the page, lost in thoughts.

"So, is it good?"

Cloud jumped a little at the sound of Squall's voice right beside him. If Sora and Roxas had been there, they would have probably gaped at that. In all the years they had known him, they never managed to make Cloud jump. Or flinch. Or even blink. And they had tried. Heart hammering, Cloud raised his head to see Squall standing there, arms crossed, eyes firmly locked into his own.

"Hum?"

Very eloquent answer that deserved some kind of reward. Cloud wanted to bash his head against the nearest shelf a few times. Until he passed out. Squall nodded in the direction of the book Cloud had been pretending to read for two days.

"Oh. Yes, it is. Very interesting."

"So you must have read the article about a new system to cool down the motor. What do you think?"

Of course he hadn't read it! Hell, he couldn't even say precisely what exactly the book was about. Backed in a corner, Cloud tried his best to play it cool by standing up and putting the book back on the shelve and giving an evasive answer.

"It's interesting."

There was a moment of silence before Squall nodded, apparently dropping the subject. Then he turned his head away with a slight frown , staring unseeingly at the bottom floor and talking quietly to Cloud:

"I'd...like to show you something."

He seemed a little hesitant and that made Cloud nervous and exited at the same time. He waited there for Squall to come back at his demand while he got downstairs to lock the front door. Once back to him, Squall looked at him for a moment before leading the way to the shelves further in the back of the top floor. Cloud quickly realized there was the door there leading to what must be the bureau. He wondered if he had done something wrong to be brought there, then realized he was locked alone in the library with Squall. And felt a painful twist in his stomach.

Squall silently entered the office and held the door open for him to come in, closing it behind Cloud. After another pause Squall walked to the huge ancient wooden desk and sat on the chair and started looking at some stuff on the computer. Meanwhile, Cloud took in the room. It wasn't that huge, only had one big window. A little dark, it fit perfectly with the very ancient feeling of the building. There were a lot of old-looking books more or less carefully organized on the shelves. As well as some small piles on the desk itself. His inquiry was brief, and soon he was back at looking at Squall's face.

He didn't wait for long and soon Squall was glancing at him, quickly shifting his gaze away and asking Cloud to come while standing up. Cloud obeyed and sat down on the chair that was offered to him. Leaning over him for one mind-blowing moment, Squall clicked on the play button of the video player before straightening up and leaning back against the desk, eyes staring at Cloud's profile.

It didn't take a long time for Cloud to realize what the video was about. Security video. And it was showing Cloud. Close enough to show that he was not reading but actually intensely staring at something, and far enough to show what the object of this intense staring was.

He was mortified. He felt the blush rise up his neck all the way to the tip of his gravity-defying spike with a force and a violence he didn't think was possible. He didn't know what do say and didn't dare look at Squall's face. The choice wasn't given to him, however, as Squall reached to the back of the chair to gently make him swirl toward himself. Upon seeing his face, it was obvious for Cloud that the guy wasn't very comfortable himself.

Cloud slowly stood up not to feel as diminutive and looked to the side briefly, trying to come up with an explanation. However, when he looked back at Squall's face, he found it much closer to his own than previously. He swallowed hard, now unable to think anymore. But he didn't have to say anything as Squall's fingers gently closed around the long bang on the side of his face shortly before his lips pressed against his own.

It was a soft kiss, almost chaste, both of them obviously a little uncomfortable with human contact in general, though it was so good that Cloud had to grip the edge of the desk tightly. It didn't stay that way for long. Once the first spell was broken, the less gentle instincts of their profound nature took over, and soon Squall was sweeping his arm over the desk to send all the books flying on the floor while pushing Cloud down and it and ravishing his mouth. Cloud himself was reciprocating by gripping Squall's hair tightly and pulling him down on top of himself, legs crossing over the leather-clad back.

*

A few hours later, they were both laying on top of the desk, naked, face to face, legs entangled, heads resting on their arms, staring at each other and catching their breath. They hadn't said a word during all the sex, which had been violent, as could testify the marks of clawing on the wooden desk from when Squall's trusts had hit Cloud's prostate for the first time, or the huge bite mark on the side of Squall's neck when he had entered Cloud at the beginning, or the bruises on Cloud's hips from when Squall lost his cool as Cloud had sat on his cock and started riding him. Not a word, only a large variety of different sounds, though neither was very vocal and mostly only the sound of their panting had filled the dead silent library. And now that they were done, aching all over with a dull pain they both enjoyed, Cloud still didn't feel like talking., just contempted himself with staring at the beautiful face in front of his own while Squall gently alternated between playing with his hair and trailing his fingertips over his skin. After a moment though, Squall opened his mouth:

"You never read any of these books, did you?"

Refusing to let Squall see him blush yet another time, Cloud pushed him off the desk and sat up to get dressed, proudly standing up over Squall's prone form. Then abruptly falling down on top of him, his legs unable to support him.

On the screen, the video that was still running showed Squall staring longingly at Cloud's back as he exited the building.

* * *

End.

* * *

Bonus:

Though he liked being there, in his dad's library, liked the building, the books, the silence, the smell, for once, he felt bored. There were enough books in the building to last a lifetime or two, but Squall didn't feel like reading. He didn't exactly know what he wanted, but he was bored. And then _he _ appeared. The most beautiful guy he had ever seen. Squall had only dated a few girls in his life, and had never really looked at guys before. But this one, he couldn't take his eyes off. It took him a moment to gather the wits to actually talk to him. He was even more beautiful up close. And then he talked, and Squall knew, then, that now matter what he'd have to do, he would have this guy.

And now, laying down on the floor after having been pushed from the desk, naked, and witnessing the man he fell in love with at first sight, how unbelievable that may be, crashing down on top of him and trying to hold back his laughter, Squall thanked Yevon for security video cameras.


End file.
